Fibrous material and method of making the same



Patented July' 19, 1-927.

UNITED'ST'ATES! PATENT" orrlca;

cm nature, or rnmannnrnn, rauusrnvama.

ruinous MATERIAL AND nnrnon or umno ran am.

No Drawing. I. Original application filed September 2, 1924, Serial No. 735,282. Divided and this application filed January 18, 1929. Serial No. 82,157.

My invention is designed to effect the simple, rapid and economical production of extremely fine miperal fibers or filaments, particularly from difiicultly fusible substances, such fibers being spun'into threads.

, Fibers drawn from very refractory minerals,

such as quartz (SiO corundum (A1 0 or magnesia (MgO), having very high melting points are much finer than fibers drawn from lass, being almost invisible, yet have a tensi e strength said to be greater than that of steel, possess almost perfect elasticity and great flexibility. Fabrics woven from such fibers have a higher luster, are very strong,

non-absorbent, incombustible and practically imperishable. They may be disinfected or deodorized by exposureto high heat or usual antiseptics without injury, may be rendered translucent by treatment with a suitable filler or' coating, and are especially suitable for use in the manufacture. of the wings of aeroplanes. 7

The mineral substances from which fibrs are formed in accordance with this invention become electrical conductors of high resistivity when heated to fusion but at normal temperatures are insulators or non-conductors of electricity. Inflaccordance with my improvements, 1 utilize these characteristics of the material to generate within it, by

assing an electric current therethrough, the iieat necessary to maintain a liquid pool or globule of the material and to provide for the conducting liquid pool thus formed a hearth or bed preventing the'destruction of the crucible or container or the short circuiting of the heating current. Preferably the liquid pool is maintained as asmall globule from which one or more threads may be drawn and the bed is formed of granulated or pulverized solid material from which the globule maybe replenished as threads are drawn therefrom. Any number of furnace-forming globules may be main-' tained' in a bed of suitable size or each furnace-fo'rming globule may bein a separate crucible or container.

The heat necessary for the initial forma tion of the conductin pool is preferably supplied by striking an maintaining an are between two electrodes in contact withthe granular material of the bed. As soon as the heat of the arc fuses sufiicient adjacent gran ules or raises them to conducting tem erature, the current flows throu h the liquid conductor thus formed and t e are isextinguished. By suitably regulating the flow of current, the heat generated by theresistivity of the liquid conductor connecting the electrodes may be raised to and maintained at any desired degree. The conversion of electrical energy into heat is instantaneous and practically 100% efiicient; the heat is generated directly in the substance being treated, without the losses incident to heating by conduction of convection; and the heat losses by radiation are small since the heat passing into the bed or hearth serves to preheat and prepare the material thereof for fusion in the pool. .The generation'of the heat within the fused material so that the highest heat of the furnace is within and not around the liquefied material, is .of great importance as it permits the drawn fibers to immediately solidify and avoids the exposure thereof to fusing temperatures after leaving the pool, thereby obviating the breakagee which occur where the fuslng heat is supplied from without the fused material, as

y an electric arc.

A fiber of material is drawn rapidly from the fused globule, preferably by engagement with a re idly rotating reel, and a plurality of such rawn fibers may be spun together to form a thread of desired thickness. The elasticity of such fibers is so great that it is desirable to coat them before or during spinning with a temporary adhesive to hold them in their twisted relation.

The fabric woven from such spun fibres are heated to a temperature which will 'hesive applied to the fibers may be burned off in this heat treatment or removed by a suitable solvent.

q no

- Thefabri'c thus formed may be translucent by impregnating or coating.it

with a suitable filler, such as varnish, or may.

be colored in any sutiisble snannert,0 coat wi pigmen exposure raysr t i by coloring the raw material. Seams or joints in such fabrics ma be made sewmg or by the use of fusi e or other cel ll ll frred ti recess,

t e re e rac ce 0 m electrodes connected in an electric ir uit are embedded in a bed of granular or powdered to any desired degree. When the globule of fab quartz has attained the requisite temperature, a thread is drawn therefrom by dipping therein and quickly withdrawing a cold quartz fragment, to which a filament of molten quarts adheres; The filament is thrown on the periphery of a rapidly rotating reel which may be coated with an adhesive to secure the engagement thereto of the end of the drawn fiber. The rotation of the reel at high speed draws from the globwhich may 101 the ules a continuous ofaskem.

Asecond'thr'ead may',ln drawn fromthe qbeuaru globnle and-reeled u nareel,care ing'tah'entodraw adfromthe lobulet' suficien by spacedaparttcgreient-oreoal gec cence of the fibers drawn.

ma ntained substantially constant by latmgthewattageofthecurrentandmay maintained of substantially the addition of or" pnl quartz fromthe fi er roman m pp y v .c Havmgdescmbedmyinventiomlclsim:

1. The method which comprises inning I0 a'thread fromjliquefied le material, fabricatingl there and heat treating said clo to in their ricated positions.

2. The processwhich com a flexible thread from a liq -mi eral su stance, fabricatin cloth therefrom and treating said cloth with a translucent filler.

3. A new article ofmanufacture com ising'woven elastic threads set in woven Em and free from strdue to wea In witness whereof I' have hereunto set my name this 15th day of Janna 1928.

. CARL RING.- 

